Tigers have agreed to a deal with reliever Joel Hanrahan

Pittsburgh Pirates closer Joel Hanrahan delivers during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins in 2012. The Tigers have signed the former Pirates and Red Sox closer to a one-year deal, gambling that he’ll be able to come all the way back from Tommy John surgery in time to help a beleaguered bullpen.
GENE J. PUSKAR — The Associated Press

They’re going to have to start paying Torii Hunter finder’s fees — especially if he keeps stocking the bullpen with arms.

After the veteran outfielder helped recruit former teammate Joe Nathan to fill the Detroit Tigers’ void at closer in the offseason, he’s now getting credit for bringing in an old friend in former Pittsburgh and Red Sox closer Joel Hanrahan to further bolster a bullpen that can use any help it can get.

“This is a situation where at the beginning of free agency, I kinda had them pin-pointed as a place I’d like to play,” said the 32-year-old Hanrahan, who signed a one-year, incentive-laden deal to pitch for the Tigers, once he’s fully recovered from Tommy John surgery a calendar year ago. “I had a good recruiter in Torii Hunter. He’s a good friend of mine, and we stayed in touch quite a bit this offseason. He kind of helped with the recruiting process.”

For the Tigers, who have spent every day of the season so far in first place despite one of the most porous bullpens in the league, it’ll be a boon, once they can get him going. Detroit has the second-worst bullpen ERA (5.37) and OPS allowed (.782) in the big leagues coming into Friday, and the third-worst batting average against (.265).

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“We figured the one area we wanted to address the most with our ballclub has been our bullpen, if we could get the right opportunity,” said Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski, who noted the Tigers were monitoring a number of established pitchers coming back from injury, but had interest in Hanrahan — who pitched in just nine games for Boston last season — all along.

“We think this is a situation that’s well worth the gamble for us. Joel’s an established big-league pitcher that can pitch at the back end of the game. Great reputation as far as makeup and being in a position to battle back from this.

“We think this helps stabilize our situation there at the back of the bullpen when he’s ready to do so.”

It could be anywhere from 30 days to six weeks or more before he’s ready.

How effectively is also a question, considering how recently he had surgery.

The Tigers did not make a huge investment in Hanrahan, so it’s not a costly gamble. Multiple reports peg the deal as one year for a base salary of $1 million, with incentives that could add up to $2 million more.

If he is right, Hanrahan could work his way into an eighth-inning role, supplanting either Joba Chamberlain — who was also signed to an incentive-laden free-agent deal in the offseason — or Al Alburquerque, who have handled the set-up duties so far. That was supposed to be the job set aside from Bruce Rondon, who himself had to have Tommy John surgery this spring.

The opportunity to win was just as important to Hanrahan’s decision-making process as was the role he’ll be in. He’s been a closer the last few seasons, racking up 100 career saves, most of those in two All-Star seasons in Pittsburgh.

“We weren’t really concerned about what role Joel is in. I think Joel has established in the baseball world that he’s one of the best closers in the game. For us, it was more about getting in a winning environment. Joel wants to win, first and most importantly,” said Hanrahan’s agent, Larry Reynolds.

“Whether Joel closes or not, we weren’t really concerned about this year at all, because it’s about him going back and performing at a healthy level, but in terms of his production and performance, we didn’t feel like it mattered if he threw the seventh or eighth inning, because he’s got a great resume, and he can always go back and be a closer later on, if things develop the way we hope.”